


A Stranger's Hands, A Traitor's Hands

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Heroes Reborn (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-25 22:17:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4978639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke's struggle to deal with his newfound powers leads to unfortunate consequences for Joanne.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Stranger's Hands, A Traitor's Hands

He looked at his hands, and did not recognise them as his own. They were a stranger’s hands, a traitor’s hands, hands that had betrayed him, turned him into a man he did not recognise, but knew he did not want to be.

Luke had become the very thing he had spent the last year trying to eradicate.

He’d spent the whole of the year that had passed since June 13th with one goal in mind: to rid the world of as many evolved humans as he could, together with Joanne. Even though he knew that Mohinder Suresh had claimed responsibility for the attack, to Luke and Joanne, the evos were responsible. They were the reason for that stupid event in the first place; the reason why everyone was there.

The reason Dennis was dead.

In the beginning, with every evo Luke and Joanne took out, Luke would picture Denny’s face, feeling that with every evo gone, he was one step closer to avenging the death of his son. _This is for Denny, you son of a bitch._ And for Joanne, she continued to feel that way. But Luke was already starting to doubt what their mission really meant, even before the day he first realised he had powers of his own. These evos he was killing in the name of his son...half of them probably hadn’t even been there, and couldn’t really be held responsible. What was killing them achieving? It didn’t matter how many evos they killed, not one of these deaths was going to bring Denny back. And now sometimes when Luke looked at Joanne, he didn’t recognise the person looking back as the wife he had once loved. All he saw was the woman consumed by her anger. And Luke wasn’t sure whether he wanted that, not for himself. As Joanne rattled off the list of names, asked whether they should go after this evo or that, Luke wasn’t sure he wanted that life for himself any more. They should take some time to rebuild their marriage, try and get back to as close to who they had been as they could (not that they ever could go completely back; not after June 13th, an event like that would always change anyone).

He hadn’t thought anything of it when the car started malfunctioning. For all he knew there had been some problem with that for ages. But he couldn’t ignore it any longer when they stopped at that diner and without any control over it, Luke had somehow managed to make his rare steak extremely well done.

Joanne hadn’t noticed a thing. In the moment, it was easier to play along with her assumption that the kitchen had screwed up his order, to buy himself some time while he worked out what he was going to do. Could he tell her, could he trust that she would be able to see past the power and her hatred of evos to continue with the marriage? Or would that bitterness overshadow the love she had once felt for him? Would she understand that he was still the same Luke despite the powers he was now displaying and yet unable to control, to understand? Was he even the same Luke anyway, could he ever be the same now that everything had changed so fundamentally? Or would she see nothing more than his ability, the fact that he was now one of the things she hated the most? 

He had to do what he could to ensure that for as long as possible, Joanne never saw his ability. He knew he couldn’t keep it from her forever, much as he wished he could. But maybe, given a bit of time, once he had convinced her that her war against evos was achieving nothing and she needed to let it go, maybe then he would be able to tell her the truth about himself and she would be able to accept it.

But of course, it didn’t work out like that, just as he knew it wouldn’t. It was becoming harder and harder to explain the incidents that happened, and Luke knew she must be starting to become suspicious. Eventually, she came upon him at a time when the radiation was bursting out from him, and Luke was powerless to stop it.

He watched the look of sheer revulsion on her face , heard the words spewing from her mouth.

_What the fuck is this?_

_Are you one of them?_

_I can’t even look at you any more. You’re not the man I thought you were._

He tried to plead with her, to remind her he was still the same Luke Collins, but Joanne shook her head. Tears pouring down her cheeks, she raised her gun, pointed it right at Luke’s chest. 

“I’m sorry. But I have to. You know why.”

He’d only meant to put his hands up to try and defend himself, although what he thought that would do he didn’t know exactly. Instead, a ball of radiation shot from his hands right at Joanne, Luke powerless to control or stop it. Joanne collapsed to the floor in agony, Luke unable to do anything but watch, fearful that any intervention on his part would only make things worse.

As his hands ceased emitting the radiation, Luke dared to approach his wife. She was alive, but only just. He called 911, anonymously, then fled the scene, hating himself for doing so, watching as the paramedics came and took Joanne away, knowing he could never satisfactorily explain exactly how she had ended up in that condition. 

He had to disappear for a while, just until he could control his powers enough that he could be sure he would never put Joanne in danger again. Then he would find her, talk to her, try and explain that it didn’t need to change anything, and do what it took to win her back, to rebuild their marriage again.


End file.
